Oracle Blog

Dave Levy Online

Wednesday Aug 30, 2006

I visited Bury Court yesterday which claims to have two of the finest contemporary gardens in the country, designed by Christopher Blakely-Hole & Peter Oudolf. It's been explained to me that 'contemporary' means lots of grasses.

And a 'Tea House', well that's what I think it looks like and with the pond we get the now mandatory water feature to contrast with the stone of the brick work and paths, the wood of the construction and the metal of the planters and furniture.

More pictures in my Bury Court set at my flickr, including some of the non-grass plants i.e. flowers that took my eye, although these also include a Vine!

Monday Jul 03, 2006

I was back (see here for my previous trip) in Amsterdam over the weekend and spent some time travelling on the Canals, it is a great way to see the city from a different angle.

One of the buildings we saw from the boat was the St. Petersburg Hermitage's sister museum, the Hermitage, Amsterdam, so I gave it a little visit the following day. In any old city, each building has a story to tell and this one is no different, as its a converted almshouse. The Museum runs a series of exhibitions based on the fuller contents of the Russian Museum. The current show is about Silver Filigree, but interesting none the less. It was also an oasis to have lunch at as the town was very hot, and the museum, not desperately busy. Its also still under development.

I have to say I watched the England Game in the hotel room that evening. Words fail me!

The following day I went for a walk, had some lunch

and then visited the Van Loon Museum, which is a preserved/restored town house of one of Amsterdam's (albeit republican) aristocracy. I finished off with a trip to the Van Gogh Museum. I've not been before, but even I can see why he's seen as a genius and ahead of his time. I enjoyed the fact that some of his contemporaries', both mentors and the inspired, pictures are shown.